An Inspirational + Lifestyle Blog

Anyone who knows me knows I love books. I’ll read books that make me laugh, cry, think, or not think depending on my mood. There’s something magical about a book that takes me out of my daily reality and immerses me into a different place.

Naturally I have about a million books I want to read, but I also like rereading my favorite books. Sometimes I get in a rut of just rereading books I have because it’s easy to grab one off my bookshelf whenever I want and I don’t have to worry about library fines if I forget to return them on time. And who wants to bring 4 kids into a library when you’re trying to focus on picking out books?

Then I stumbled across the Modern Mrs Darcy blog. She has great posts on books, plus she has a reading challenge for 2016; 12 books in 12 different categories in 12 months. Not only is 12 books doable in a year, but it gets me out of my reading rut. You can see MMD’s original 2016 reading challenge post here.

I decided I would take up the challenge even though it was a few months into the year already, because, why wouldn’t I decide to read more books??? I went through and picked the book for each category before I started, because I have to be organized like that. Here’s the books I chose:

No spoilers if you’ve read them!

MMD 2016 Reading Challange

Book Published this year:The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison I just finished this book as part of Amazon’s Kindle First program, so it won’t actually be published until next month. As for the story; it was dark. More so than the books I usually read, but I found it fascinating. After reading a couple reviews I was a little nervous I wouldn’t be able to handle the story of girls getting kidnapped and held captive by a man, for the only reason a man would hold young beautiful girls captive, but I think it was well done. It wasn’t overly graphic and it was disturbing in a way that didn’t really freak me out until I tried to go to sleep.

Book You Can Finish in a Day: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume To be honest, I first heard about this book on Will and Grace. I wanted to read it for that reason alone, but also because other people have said it’s good. At 160 pages I think I can read it in a day, or more realistically, a night.

Book I’ve Been Meaning to Read: Winter by Marissa Meyer This is the conclusion to the Lunar Chronicles, which is a scifi take on a few fairytales; namely Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. They’re REALLY good, and I’m looking forward to finding out how everything ends.

Book Recommended by a Librarian: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter is one of those books that I’ve heard so much about, and is a classic, but I’ve never read. I didn’t know what it was about until this reading challenge, but now that I’ve read a little about it my interest is piqued.

Book I Should Have Read in School: Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston I have to admit, I had never heard of this book until I Googled ‘Books I should have read in high school’. There were a few other interesting ones but due to the fact that this was once a banned book, as well as it was written by an african american woman in 1937 bumped it to the top of the list.

Book Chosen by a Partner or BFF: Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult This is the other book I’ve managed to read on the list so far. My friend Katie recommended it to me, and I’ve enjoyed Jodi Picoult books in the past. I went in knowing it would be emotional, but I wasn’t prepared for how much this one got to me, or how much of the story I didn’t see coming. It was a great book, like all of hers, but this one left me thinking for a long time after I stopped reading.

Book Published Before I was Born: Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut There are MILLIONS of wonderful books written before I was born, so this category was, by far, the hardest. I fell back on the classics, because, well, they’re classics. I’ve always said I want to read more of them, and here’s my chance. The reviews are good but threw me off with aliens and time travel, but I’m still willing to give it a shot.

Book Banned at Some Point: 1984 by George Orwell With ‘Big Brother’ always in the news and being talked about, this was one of the easiest picks for me. I’ve heard a lot about this book, but never took the time to read it. With the elections, and current events going on at the moment, I figured there was no better time to read it.

Book I Previously Abandoned: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller There’s a pretty short list of books I haven’t finished, but Catch-22 is one of them. I couldn’t get into the story very well, so moved on to other things. Now that it’s been over 5 years I think it’s time to try it again.

Book I’ve Owned But Never Read: Swapping Lives by Jane Green After all the classics and heavy topics in most of these books I wanted to throw in some easier, light hearted reading. This has been sitting on my shelf for a few months now and I think reading about two women swapping lives for a while will be the perfect break from WWII, racism, and political themes.

Book That Intimidates Me: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen I’ve never read any of Jane Austen’s work. I have some friends that love it, and some that hate it. For that reason I’ve never committed to reading it, but even though I’m not sure I’ll like her writing style I’m willing to give it a shot.

Book I’v Already Read Once: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd This is one book that I LOVED. I wasn’t sure I’d ever read it again, but it’s sat on my shelf waiting, just in case. Even though it’s been years since I’ve read it, parts of it have stayed with me and I’ve related to over the years. I’m really looking forward to reading it again, especially after having children of my own.

I’m really excited for the challenge, and to read a slew of books I’ve been thinking about reading for years. Anyone want to join me? You can pick your own books, and I’ll follow up as I continue to work through my list. Happy Reading!

Now that I’m almost done with my house, it’s amazing to see the difference in my home, as well as the way I look at things I bring into it. My clothes were by far the easiest, and one of the most dramatic changes. Like the majority of people I know, I stacked my shirts in my dresser drawer. That is not the KonMari way. She has you fold your shirts and stand them up, so you can see all of them without riffling through everything.

I was trolling through Facebook a couple weeks ago when I came across a post one of my friends wrote about cleaning her house. She was going on about this book she read, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and how she had already taken bags of stuff out of her house and felt so much better.

My house is a mess. Sure I clean it up for birthday parties or family being in town, but with 4 little kids running around it’s just a wreck most days. However, I hate the mess. It stresses me out. So, in the spirit of bringing more joy and positivity to my life, I decided to check out the book and see if I could get some tips.

Hello, Lovelies! I'm proud to say that I'm a follower of Christ, a mother of two and an always improving wife to the most wonderful stay-at-home daddy. I struggle on a regular basis to find the positives that are sometimes masked by negatives. Join my journey as I learn to find the inspiration in this crazy thing called life.

Hello everyone! I'm a stay at home mom to two sets of twins, and even though everyone says to enjoy it when they're young, I go back on forth on wishing they would get older and longing for them to be babies again. Sometimes I need to slow down and just enjoy the moment. Thanks for joining me on this journey, and I look forward to sharing my outlook and excerpts on life with 4 under 5.